


Step By Step

by Spazzo47



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fan Fiction challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:23:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15862632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spazzo47/pseuds/Spazzo47
Summary: Mac has been gone all day and no one's heard from her.  When they finally learn where she is, Will has to decide if he wants to make a step toward her or not.This is for LilacMermaid's August Fan Fiction challenge.





	Step By Step

“We’ll be back after this.”

“Clear”

“Jim, did you get her on the phone yet?”

“She’s still not ans—”

“Jenna!”

Jenna looked at Jim with fear in her eyes.  While the monitors in the control room showed Will taking his phone out of his pocket, Jim signaled Jenna to stay in control and take a breath.  “She’s not answering Will and she hasn’t answered your calls either.”

“God damn it!”

“We’ll keep trying and let you know when we know something.”

Jenna waited for Jim to indicate she can speak freely.  “Are we sure he didn’t do something to her?”

Joey quickly answered, “Of course he did _something_ , but no, he wouldn’t make her fall off the face of the earth.”

Jim saw Will looking at his phone.  “Will, she’d want you to focus on the show.  You’re back in 30.”

“If she wanted me to fucking focus, she would have called by now.”

“He may have you there, Ace.”

Jim looked back at Herb.  “You too?”

Herb smiled and shrugged shoulders.  Jim reached down to switch the audio in Will’s ear when the control room door opened and Kendra ran in.  “This just came off the wire.”

“Fuck!”

“What?  Do we have breaking news?”

Jim looked down at the controls and gave a frustrated exhale of breath.  “No, nothing that we need to cover.”  He put his hand over his mic and mouthed at Kendra, who couldn’t understand what he tried to say. 

“What’s going on in there?”

Jim checked the setting on his mic and said, “15 seconds back Will.  Focus.”

“What does the fucking AP say?”

“10 seconds, Will, get your script ready.”

“Oh my God, is that Mac’s dad?”

All eyes went to Jenna who realized she just said that out loud.  Herb got his wits about him quickest and counted down from 5.  Jim breathed a sigh of relief until he heard Will throw to a 2-and-a-half-minute package.  Jim asked Kendra if their guest was ready.  Kendra nodded her head. 

“Okay, Will, this is everything we know.  Her Royal Highness the Queen just announced that Ambassador Dean McHale passed away in England.  I think we’re all coming to the same conclusions.”

“The Ambassador?  Oh my God!  Mac.” 

Will took his cell out of his jacket pocket.  Jim handed the headset to Kendra and told her to switch him so he can talk to Will, but to watch the clock and start counting them down at a minute.  Jim walked into the studio and said, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m calling Mac.”

“Will, if she hasn’t answered all day, she’s not going to answer when she knows you’re on the air.  She would want you to do the show.”

Will looked at Jim with something that he’s never seen.  For the first time, the younger man saw how much Will cared for Mac.  For the first time, he understood why Mac had never completely given up on Will.  He remembered Mac saying once that when Will loved, he loved completely.  Jim saw desperation on Will’s face and thought that may be what she meant. 

“I need to talk to her, Jim.  I… They were supposed to be my family too.”  The statement took Will by surprise in its total honesty.  He knows that he owes Mac his friendship and support at a time like this, but it was more than that.  If things were just a little different.  If she never would have told him about… They should be married.  He should have gone with her.  He should be standing by her, between her and her sister.  He should have her engulfed in one arm and Mac’s mom in the other.  It should have been for better and for worse.  And in a way, it is, because this is worse for him too.  He feels this loss as acutely as if that day never happened. 

“But now you’re with Nina.  Maybe that’s why she hasn’t called you.”  Jim felt like every bit of the asshole Will thought he was.  But he had to say it.  He needed Will’s focus for the show, and more than that, he had held this back since the first time he saw a picture of Will and Nina.  He knew the family as well, not as well as Will, but he knew they didn’t deserve his antics.  They didn’t deserve him making this about him or him and Mac. 

Will came to a decision and he didn’t give a damn what Jim or anyone else thought about it.  “Get Sloane in here.  She can handle the rest of the broadcast.”

Jim raised himself to his top height and looked Will in the eye.  “Sit your ass down and give me the fucking phone.  You are not going to upset her and you are not going to ruin this broadcast.”

“I’m going to call her, why the fuck would that upset her?”

“Jim, 30 seconds!”

Will made a big show of scrolling through his phone while Jim looked around to think through his options.  “Maybe you should ask Nina.”  Jim looked down at his watch while letting that sit in the air. “15 seconds Will.  And Sloane’s in hair and makeup.”

Will watched Jim disappear behind the door to the control room. 

\---------- ----------- -------------

Will didn’t bother to take off his jacket before racing to Charlie’s office after the broadcast.  “I want to represent ACN at the Ambassador’s funeral.”

“You know you almost lost it during the Sanders interview.  And what kind of fucking name is Teddy for a NASA director?”

“I guess his mom aimed low.  I want to go to the funeral.”

Charlie downed the rest of glass and then said, “No.”

“Charlie, come on.  Who would be a better choice than the face of the network?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the correspondent that has actually covered England and knows people there.”  Charlie looked at Will and poured each of them a drink.  “Will, if you want to be there, then call her and tell her.  Be a man.”

“She hasn’t answered my calls all day because she thinks I’m… you know, Nina.”

“Well, then maybe you need to tell her that you’re not with Nina anymore.  You’ve seen the light and you realize there’s only one woman for you.  And she’s not a tall, blonde gossip columnist.”

“I can’t say that Charlie!”

“Why the fuck not?  I don’t think you can even deny that it’s true!”

“Because she might believe me.  And she’ll… want things.”  Will drank his glass in one gulp.

“Well, imagine that.  The woman you love might want you to act like you love her instead of acting like you have your head up your ass!”

“Charlie, are you going to send me there or not?”

“You won’t be the ACN representative.  And I hope you’re not going to jump on a plane in the middle of the night and surprise her without saying anything that she wants to hear.”

“I can’t, Charlie.  I can’t say it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I haven’t forgiven her yet.  And she deserves more than just part of me.”

“She does.”  Charlie looked at his star anchor.  “Will, as you get older, you start thinking more and more about your death and how you spent your life.  The worst thing you can do is die with regrets.  This isn’t worth regretting, Will.  Tell her what you can, and let her decide if it’s enough.”  Charlie patted Will on the shoulder as he left his office.  A few seconds later he came back. 

“Forgot this was your office?”

“I made my point and thought it needed an exit for dramatic effect.”

“It did.  Good choice.” 

The men smiled at each other and Will left. 

\-------- -------- ---------

Will lay on his bed and looked through his contacts in his phone.  After the breakup and Mac’s decision to stay in the Middle East, Camille, Mac’s oldest sister called Will and screaming every name in the book at him, so he blocked her number.  As he looked at her contact information, he realized with a tap he could unblock her.  And so he did.  He listened to the phone ring three times hoping that Camille would answer. 

“Hello?”

“Mac?”

“So you figured out how to unblock a caller?  Did you have to get Neal to show you?”

Will smiled.  “I figured it out on my own.  I can show you how later.”

“No need, I’ve been blocking and unblocking you for 2 years.  You’d act like an ass and I’d block you, then I’d remember that I wanted to say something to you, so I’d have to unblock you.  But for those 10 minutes, it was pure heaven.”

Will smiled.  He missed this.  Since being with Nina… he’s missed this. 

“So what was the plan, Will.  You were going to call my sister and have her hand the phone to me?”

“Something like that.”  Will got serious as he tried to decide what he wanted to say.  “Look, Mac.  I don’t love Nina.”  Will winced.  That’s not how he wanted to start this.  He didn’t want to mention her at all in fact.  “The report about your father came through and… I wanted to be there.  He accepted me as… I should have been part of the family.  I wanted to be.  And Mac, I…”  Will scrubbed his hand over his face.  This wasn’t going at all like he wanted.  Not that he had a plan, but he wanted this to go smoother.  “I love you Mac, and I never stopped.  And I want to be there.  I want to sit next to you and support you and… I should be there, it’s the only place I want to be.  And if you say yes, and even if you don’t, she’s not a factor.  Not anymore.  Just please Mac.  Let me be there.”

“You know you could just come as a representative for ACN.”

“I could.  But that’s not what I want.”  Well, it’s not a _complete_ lie.  And Charlie won’t rat him out.

“And what you want is me?”

Will took a breath.  “Yes.  Since the first time I saw you.  It’s just taken me a long time to see. And, I don’t want to regret.  Not this.  And I will.  If I don’t get to see you and your family during this, I will regret it.”

“So, you’re asking my permission to come?  That doesn’t sound like you.”

“I thought about jumping on a plane and just being there, and if you say no, I still might.  But I thought this was better.  Don’t you think it’s better?”

Mac smiled.  “So you got some coaching from Charlie?”

Will laughed.  How could she be facing the loss of the man she loved and respected her whole life and still give him shit.  It felt wrong, He should be calming her down.  But maybe this is what happens when you’re part of a family that is open and truly loves each other.  She gets her strength from the people she loves, so she can do this because she’s not surrounded by regrets.  “Yeah.”

“My father loved you, Will.  When I told him why we broke up, he told me that I had lost a good man.  And when I told him I was going to work for you again, he was skeptical, but I don’t think he ever lost hope.”

Will felt himself tearing up.  “He did?”  Will had to take a breath.  “I have never respectd anyone more than him.  You have to know that.  I should have respected his –”

“Will, don’t.  He loved you, Will and I can’t think of a better way to honor him than to have you here.”

Will heard her voice tremble a little and he understood.  “Him.  You will permit me to come to honor him.”

“What do you want from me, Will?  You’re with –”

“No, I’m not.  Not anymore.  I talked to Charlie, and I don’t want to regret.  And I know that there’s only one person I will ever want to be with.  You’re it for me, Mac.  Always have been.”

Mac wanted to believe him.  She wanted to believe him more than anything.  She thought about all the shit he’s pulled in the last couple years, and then she realized that in all the time she’s known him, he’s never lied.  About his feelings.  If he says that he’s realized he wants her, then he does.  He dad used to say, “Someone has to make the first step, but if no one makes the second, nothing ever happens.”

“I want you here too.  If you want to come here, I want you here too.”

“I’ll be on the next plane.” 

 


End file.
